


colui che cerca

by traineeghostcop



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Magic, The original characters have minor roles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 02:44:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traineeghostcop/pseuds/traineeghostcop
Summary: in a small shanty town, there's an old cafe. the locals say there's something magical about it; the girls that run it say it's just business. the weary enter and leave refreshed, the shivering enter and leave warm, the downtrodden enter and leave braver than ever.a pair of unsuspecting, emotionally constipated ghosthunters enter and leave...?





	colui che cerca

**Author's Note:**

> "Magic" here should connote the kind of Potteresque fictional magic, not any intentional representation of real-world religions/beliefs/practices. Think Queen Goldstein in the Muggle world. 
> 
> This was a prompt from @boys-and-ghouls on tumblr dot com. She's got a great blog and if I'm not wrong, is currently pretty busy with school so do send some nice thoughts her way!

The tiny moon-snail shells dangling above the door tinkled, dappled champagne in the early morning sun. Harriet shook her umbrella once, then waved her hand as she quickly hung up her damp peacoat. Almost immediately, the dark splotches of rainwater swirled inwards, disappearing completely.

“Tardy,” Bella, the head barista, observed with no real venom. Harriet apologised dutifully, slinging her apron round her waist and heading to the counter, the ribbon-ties promptly folding themselves into a neat bow.

It was still rather early in the day; at this time, only a handful of early risers came to the _Fiore de Venere_. In the small shanty town of 78 residents, strangers were in short supply. Glancing through the window of the closed kitchen, she spotted Addie preparing the day’s pastries, ribbons of icing sugar rolling themselves into intricate roses; beside her, Bella whispered a charm into the plume of steam above her Mocha Fuoco, blowing at the steam twice before taking a satisfied sip.

Harriet nearly jumped out of her skin as the moon-snail shells jangled harshly (she quickly vanished her spilled coffee, praying Bella hadn’t noticed). At the doorway, a young man scowled as he yanked off his sopping beanie, dark hair pressed to his forehead in fluffy waves. Above him, a bony hand propped the door open, belonging to a taller blond who rolled his eyes, waiting for his companion to make way for him to enter. The blond hunkered in after the brunette, forehead smacking into the shells, and his companion cackled.

Harriet suppressed a laugh. “Hi, you boys eating in?”

“Yeah–yeah, we are,” the brunette nodded, out of breath but grinning brightly. 

“Okay, just take a seat and Clare will be with you in a while.”

 

.

 

“I know what I fuckin’ heard, man!”

“Yeah, and I heard it too! Ya know what it was?”

“No, no, no, I know what you’re– _don’t you even_ –”

“The wind, _Ryan_ , it was the _wind_. It’s an old cottage with shitty windows, we’re by the sea, and it’s _windy_.”

Clare inwardly sighed. It had barely been three minutes since they were seated.

Bracing her pen on the post-it pad, she spoke. “Hey, what can I get for you?”

The brunette– Ryan– replied, “I’ll have one of the, uh, _Guarire Chai_ and he’ll have the _Cappuccino Ventura_. Oh, wait, are you guys cash-only?” Clare nodded. He cursed, fumbling with his wallet before sheepishly asking: “Do you guys have anything that’s like, uh…four dollars apiece?”

“Says here the _Caprifoglio Latte_ ’s two for seven bucks,” supplied the blond.

“Oh, okay, then we’ll have that!”

Clare thanked them, scribbled the orders and left. Like two petulant schoolboys, the second she turned her back they started again.

“Oh, I see, so the wind can whisper _‘Don’t look’_ , right into my fuckin’ ear. Some– some _gold nugget of logic from Shane Madej_ , everyone!”

“The wind can’t say _shit_ , is what I’m saying! The only thing the wind can do is make your weird little brain do weird little shit!”

“That makes no sense!”

 

.

 

“They don’t know what _Caprifoglio_ is, do they?” Harriet said, more a statement than a question.

Clare shook her head. “They don’t have a single trace of magic on them, I can sense it.”

Low enough so none of the customers could hear, Harriet protested, “Aren’t we gonna, I don’t know, irreversibly mess up their lives? I mean, look at them, they’re barely friends! And we just give them a love potion?”

“That’s the thing people get wrong about love potions,” Bella said, barely audible over the thrum of the coffee grinder. “Love potions can’t force you to love. If you don’t love someone, _Caprifoglio_ can’t do anything. But it’ll make two people in love be willing to try. Makes a candle burn warmer, not brighter.”

Bella took a long, silent look at the pair. Presently, Shane’s hand was propped under his chin, wearing a look of longsuffering (and something else) as Ryan mockingly parroted something Shane had previously said.

“Have some faith, Harriet; just wait.”

 

.

 

“I literally don’t need to deal with this right now.” 

“Well maybe–”

“Shut up, Shane.”

Clare laid the steaming cups down gently. “Here’s the two _Caprifoglio Lattes_. Any sugar? Milk?”

“No thanks, we’re good.” Ryan was terse. 

“Oh, really? You _could_ use some sugar if you’re so bitter about Teej siding with the Shaniacs.”

“I am not bitter, you’re just a dick, and maybe you could have some milk if you’re gonna be such a _baby_ about everything!”

“Oh, I am _NOT_ –”

 

.

 

“Hey, just wanted to let you know that we’re trying out some new pastries for the winter season, so these scones are on the house!”

“Thanks,” Shane offered a smile as he sipped the warm coffee. Returning the smile, Clare left.

“I mean it, you know? It’s not that I don’t…give a shit. But it’s tiring.”

“Yeah, questioning everything I say _really_ tends to take it outta you,” Ryan muttered harshly at his scone.

“I’m not questioning you, you know. You don’t think I want to find the same answers you do?”

 

.

 

Shane took a swig of his coffee.

“It freaks me out. Sometimes it really does.”

“Shane Madej, spooked by ghosts?”

“No, not that. It–what freaks me out is that there’s no end to any of this. And you’re running yourself into the ground, I–I’ve watched you have three panic attacks, and yeah, this shindig is fun and exciting but it’s _too fucking hard, watching you do this to yourself over something that we don’t even know is out there for sure._ ”

“But we can at least try, right? There has to be more. I can’t stand the thought that I’m alive, but not as part of a grander search for something. I fuckin’ hate it.” He paused to sip his coffee. “Like, sure, it makes my brain melt when we go to haunted locations and stuff, but without that? What if this is all we’re ever gonna know? No _Great Wide Somewhere_. And I want something big to happen to us, but only if you’re with me when it does.”

The two men were silent as Clare collected their plates.

“What if I like the _now_ , though? Just us, doing dumb shit in gross old houses, and sure, there might be something out there, but it doesn’t have to happen now, and we don’t need to keep grippin’ our seats waiting for it. I like being here, with you, now, doing this little gig, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Yeah, well I just–I want something to happen. I know it will. And if our entire perception of the universe got flipped upside down in a day, what if you’re not with me for that?”

“I’ve been here all along, haven’t I?”

Outside, the rain stopped. Two empty cups were collected from the table.

**Author's Note:**

> And that concludes my very first story on this site AND my very first story for Unsolved! As such, it was really just a practice round for characterisation and stuff; it's nowhere near good or perfect BUT. It was great practice getting the hang of HTML's and stuff. (HOW DOES ONE HTML???)
> 
> With that, an announcement! The reason I'm using this as a practice round is that I have a big multi-chapter thingamajig coming up for the Unsolved community; it's a good old-fashioned mystery set around the turn of the 20th century. I won't reveal too much, but it is very much based off an idea SomeWeirdNerd gave me. (Go check her stuff out, they're terrifying and riveting in all the best ways.) It's the first project I've done of that scale, so stay tuned! It'll go live in the next week or two. 
> 
> Also, I'm pretty sure half of you have seen this on tumblr already, but hmu @pekuliar.tumblr.com!)


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